Slain woman was about to kick boyfriend, the apparent gunman, out of Pomona home

Pomona police: "There wasn't enough time for either the family or police to respond" to a threat

Family: Murder victim was a pastry chef who traveled the U.S.

In the end — from the threatening phone call to the plea for police to please hurry — there just wasn't enough time to save those inside the modest home on Ramsey Way in Pomona.

Officers said that by the time they got to the street-corner home, all four people inside were dead: the mother, the daughter, the son and a person described as an angry boyfriend who apparently shot them all before turning the gun on himself.

Pomona murder-suicide

Irfan Khan / Los Angeles Times

A woman watches from her car as Pomona police investigate an apparent triple murder-suicide in a home where members of her family lived.

A woman watches from her car as Pomona police investigate an apparent triple murder-suicide in a home where members of her family lived. (Irfan Khan / Los Angeles Times)

Police said they were summoned just before midnight Thursday after the apparent gunman called his brother, who in turn called police to warn them of what his brother planned to do.

"It was within a few minutes, and unfortunately, there wasn't enough time for either the family or police to respond," said Pomona police Lt. Mike Keltner. "This could've happened within 30 seconds, easily."

Maryann Padilla had planned to break up with the man the night of the shootings, Mejia said, and her mother said she wanted him to move out because he was jobless, didn't go to school and was a burden on the family.

As a parent, I find it very hard to secure the safety of my children. I am a father of two lovely daughters. Both go to high school. I can't be with them every single time. Me and my wife go to work everyday. It's hard to be certain about their whereabouts and situation. Good thing...

Manuela Padilla, the mother, was a pastry chef who traveled the country updating restaurants on her company's latest recipes and cakes, Mejia said. She said her sister wanted to follow in her mother's footsteps, while her brother, a junior at Palomares Academy of Health Sciences, was interested in engineering.

By all accounts, the Padillas were friendly but private. Last year they finished remodeling the home — its new coat of paint stands out on the street — and added a waist-high brick wall lining the yard.

Mary Luna, whose son was friends with Juan Padilla, recalled the teen saying his big sister's boyfriend was "a little weird," but she didn't think much of it.

Luna said Manuela Padilla was going to make her a cake for Mother's Day — just the latest act of generosity from the woman. She had made Luna a cake for her niece and nephew's first Communion.

On Friday, Oscar Vargas, 26, the daughter's ex-boyfriend, stood alone in the middle of Ramsey Way looking at the house behind the police tape, with two empty coroner's stretchers outside the front door.

"They didn't deserve anything like this," he said softly, shaking his head.

Vargas said that he'd lost touch with the Padillas about two years ago when he and Maryann Padilla broke up, but that he'd never forget the family's generosity.

"She treated me like I was her own son. She was more of a mother to me than my mom ever was," he said. "They're all beautiful people."

Federal agents raided about 20 locations in three Southern California counties early Tuesday as part of an investigation targeting “birth tourism” schemes in which pregnant Chinese women travel to the United States on fraudulent visas so that their children will be born U.S....

The 39-year-old man shot dead by Los Angeles police officers on skid row Sunday was convicted 15 years ago of an armed robbery at a Thousand Oaks bank and sent to federal prison, according to records and law enforcement sources.

Officials generally agree that the Burbank Bob Hope Airport passenger terminal is cramped, outdated and obsolete. Opened 85 years ago, the terminal is so close to the runway that it does not meet federal design safety standards. The terminal also doesn't meet seismic standards and could be so...

Grief counselors were being sent to schools throughout an Orange County school district Tuesday, a day after a teacher apparently committed suicide in a classroom and her body was found by students and faculty.

An estimated 2,500 cheering Charger fans flocked to a meeting Monday night of the mayor’s stadium advisory committee to plead the case for building a new stadium to keep the team from moving to the Los Angeles area.